


The script

by knoxdalton



Category: Dead Poets Society (1989)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blushing, Boys In Love, Charlie Dalton Bi King, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Kissing, M/M, Magical Realism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-18 13:36:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29119089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knoxdalton/pseuds/knoxdalton
Summary: Neil wanted to follow his dreams. No one could say ‘no’ to him. Even, Todd Anderson himself. But... he couldn’t even stop reciting the scripted words. As if they were charmed... as if...
Relationships: Todd Anderson/Neil Perry
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	The script

**Author's Note:**

> Some of the dialogues and events are directly taken from the book/movie. Some of them are created by me to suit the story. There might be some canon divergences. 
> 
> Inspired by Haruki Murakami’s short stories.

IT was obvious that at some point Todd Anderson would have found Neil Perry handsome. A very gorgeous man, indeed. Everyone in Welton Academy was fond of the boy’s almond, always neatly brushed hair and wide smile. However, Todd wasn’t sure his feelings towards the other were only platonic. In his eyes, Neil Perry was the most perfect person. His skin was soft and blushed in the most delicate pink. The fingers were long, aristocratic and thin. His full cheeks made him look kind. The posture was slightly hunched which made Todd believe that Neil was a human, after all. His most breath-taking attribute was eyes. Neil’s irises were hazel, full of night bright stars and always shone when he mentioned his passions. 

Todd was so lost. 

The first days at Welton had been a nightmare for him. Besides being compared to his brother and tons of homework, he had witnessed the funny feeling in his stomach more often than appropriate. Neil had been kind and polite, offering all his resources to help the other accommodate. Light smiles, small touches on hands or backs and comforting words became a death sentence for him.  
“Listen,” Neil said to his roommate in a hushed voice. “I’m inviting you to the society meeting.”  
Suddenly, becoming a part of secret society hadn’t even surprised him — all with the hazel eyed boy help. Todd tried to protest in many ways. Vocalizing his disagreement about joining them in the cave wasn’t effective because Neil was very much outspoken, easily overtalking him with arguments. The non-verbal attempts were also unsuccessful because one wide smile directed towards Todd made his knees weak. He had to agree. 

Later, the new problem appeared on their way. Todd cared so much about Neil. He had been trying to show it in many ways. The last thing he wanted was seeing the other struggle. Neil rarely got sad, but when he did, his chin was dripping down, hazel eyes were losing their shine and hands were shaking. It was the most painful view to witness for Todd. So far, he had seen the other sad only twice, but his heart wasn’t longing to repeat. 

When Neil with his messy hair from the wind and flushed cheeks approached the door with a crumpled piece of paper, Todd knew that some mischief was about to happen. 

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” he read.

“Yes!” 

Todd was a little bit lost. One of his eyebrows was raised in confusion. Neil handed him the poster. 

“I’m going to audition,” the almond hair flipped on his head when the proud words came from his mouth. 

“What about your father?”

“My father?” he laughed, almost hysterically. “I don’t care about my father, Todd! I can do something for myself, can’t I?”

The boy couldn’t think about any words, hearing Neil scream at him for the first time. The raised voice made his spine uncomfortably shiver. It was so pathetic. 

“I’ve always been a good son for him,” the voice softened. “I can do one thing for myself. I wanted to play for such a long time.”

Todd only could nod. It felt very irresponsible to do such thing. He should have said something about it — anxiety was building in his veins. Saying ‘no’ to Neil wasn’t an option, either. He stared deeply into the hazel eyes, slightly smiling in courage. This felt just… right. Their cheeks redden a bit from intimate moment. Neil smiled even wider. It made Todd’s heart pound rapidly. 

“Audition is soon,” Neil said finally. “Later, we will see what happens.”

It went that way. Todd started to get used to see his roommate with a flashlight and the ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ script before bed. It gave him opportunity to steal last glances. Neil was beautiful in soft moonlight with a focused frown painted on his face. 

The true passion inspired Todd to write poetry. He kept it down. The black notebook that he had used as draft from his schoolwork got its new vocation. It was full of beautiful words. The poetry was about a boy with breath-taking eyes and a heart full of passion. It could be Neil; it could be someone else. Todd’s thoughts were looking for new statements to describe the breath-taking human being. 

One day, Todd was sitting on his bed with a notebook. 

“1 got it!” he heard Neil yelling in the hallway. “Hey, everybody, I got the part! I’m going to play Puck.” He opened the door to the room and saw Todd sitting there. “Hey, I’m Puck!’ 

“Puck you! Pipe down,” yelled a voice from down the hall. Charlie and several other boys came wandering into the room.

“All right, Neil! Congratulations!” They cheered.

The room became a pure chaos. However, Todd couldn’t pay attention to it. Of course, he celebrated with the other boys, but his true thoughts were somewhere else. The great feeling inside his heart was growing and growing. He was so proud of Neil that it couldn’t be even described. 

Mr. Keating homework was another nightmare. His secret poems were no use in this case — someone could discover the true meaning of them. He suspected Charlie Dalton to understand something more than was visible for the common public. The boy was giving them piercing looks whenever they got somehow closer. Once, he saw a soft smile on Charlie’s lips when Neil’s and his hand touched by accident. It was such a misfortune; he didn’t think that Charlie would’ve made any problem with it, but he would’ve told Neil about it. They were good friends, after all. 

He was right. Mr. Keating’s lesson was a true nightmare. The moment of screaming ‘barbaric YAWP!’ was utterly embarrassing. It made his cheeks flush, eyes a bit watery and hands shake. No one mentioned it on the supper and in the study group as if it wasn’t anything special. It might’ve not been a big thing for them, but for Todd, it was a big turnout. The thought of the boys didn’t consider it wailing was comforting. 

When Neil and Todd came back to their room, the almond haired boy spoke: “I, Neil Perry,” he kneeled down, as if he was about to propose to the other. “Heard your truly barbaric yawp. It was great,” a small slip from his created character. Todd’s cheeks were slightly pink. “Can you, Mr. Anderson, help with my script?”

“Huh?” he was very embarrassed. 

“I need to practice for the play,” Neil got up. They were close; noses nearly touching. “Can you go through the script with me some time?”

“Yeah,” it was very quiet. “Sure.”

Neil instantly stepped backwards with a huge smile. It made Todd realize that he has been holding the breath the whole time. Heart pounding, he stepped out of the room, saying he had to ‘change’. The poor excuse saved him from being completely red and vulnerable in front the other boy.

The days of reading the scrip came faster than Todd ever thought. One script was printed on clear and expensive white paper. Neil wanted to give it to Todd very badly, but the boy protested. It made Todd struggle with a stack of yellowish and old papers. Some letters were smudged over time and hard to read. It was… different, one would say. A very strange urge to touch it was building inside his flesh when he was seeing it laying freely. Todd didn’t care. How could he? He was too focused on Neil’s handsomeness while playing than some old pieces of paper.

They were usually sitting on their beds, where Neil, standing firmly was reciting his parts from memory. Not only his parts, he knew the whole script. The boy was so fixated that Todd started to think he was living with Puck. 

One night was very specific. The dark sky was clear, but the weather was nasty. A very rapid wind was pounding outside, which made the window make annoying noises. Todd had to wear an extra sweater onto his pajamas to avoid shivering from coldness. Neil, on the other hand, was always warm and didn’t even bother to wear socks. He stood bare-footed on his bed with dreamy eyes as they went through the lines.

“Here, villain, drawn and ready. Where art thou?” Neil called dramatically from memory.

‘“I will be with thee straight,’” Todd read from the script. 

He was holding it with his right hand. The funny electric feeling was pressing onto his palm.

“Follow me, then, to plainer ground!” Neil boomed, completely muted the winds. “Todd!”

“Huh?” the boy looked up from the papers, barely reading it. 

Somehow, the letter became even harder to decode. It wasn’t the bad light fault — they had two nightlamps turned on. Todd didn’t notice lacking in reading ability, either. He didn’t care, focusing on Neil’s wide smile and cheerful hazel eyes. The funny feeling on his hand became stronger. It felt like tickles. 

“Focus, you are mixing the words,” he looked a bit off. “Please.”

Todd nodded and came back to the text. 

“’Yea, art thou there?’” he read.

“Put more into it!” Neil urged, nearly shouting.

“‘YEA, ART THOU THERE?‘” Todd bellowed.

He was so fixated in his reading. The words didn’t matter, anymore. The feeling was wonderful, the same as he felt reading his poetry to himself, the lines were pounding inside his veins. 

“That’s it! ‘Follow my voice; we’ll try no manhood here.”

“Neil Perry,” he read from the script. The other boy stared in confusion. “I want to tell you something so badly.” Todd’s eyes widened in fear, but the words that were coming out from his mouth didn’t stop. He couldn’t control it. “I’ve been holding it inside me for a long time. I fanc…”

Todd couldn’t stop it, so he put his hands onto his mouth. The next words were muffed but Neil seemed to understand them clearly. It was also a relief for his right hand — the paper was nearly burning it. He bowed his head to read it once again; the script really said it. He checked it a couple times. It felt like he was… charmed? Todd shoved off the thought. It was utterly stupid. 

Neil, however, jumped off his bed. His bare foot made a strange noise when they met the wooden floor. The broken window moved once again with wind’s support. Quickly, Neil got the ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ script in his hands. 

“What’s going on, Todd?” he asked lightly, still reading the written lines. His cheeks were flushed. Todd thought it was the cutest view to witness. 

The other boy didn’t say anything, because the answer was a big unknown for him, too. 

“You read, ‘’Yea, art thou there?’ and then,” Neil quoted. The letters on the ragged script started to change their places as if someone enchanted the paper. The boy seemed not to notice it. “Todd Anderson, I feel the same.”

After the words came out, the silence spread inside the room. Neil’s hazel eyes widened in shock. They didn’t know what had just happened seconds ago. Their gazes met for a while, but Todd broke the eye contact in fear. He was madly red. 

Moments later, their heads bumped into each other as they tried to read the paper again. Small “auch!” came from Todd’s mouth. The text looked completely normal. Nothing was off. 

“I don’t know what happened,” he stated, staring at Neil’s fluffy hair. He fought with his wild urges to sniff it. The other boy always smelled great. 

“Is it true?” he looked up. “What you said, I mean.”

Their eyes met; noses were millimeters apart. It was the closest they had ever been. Now, even Todd’s ears were red in the cringe of his behavior. He could feel the other’s hot breath on his lips. The warm funny shiver attacked his spine. It was truly an electric experience. 

“I…” he started. “Yes.”

Neil took a deep, sharky breath. Was he as stressed as Todd was?

“Mines too.”

It was short but completely took his ability to speak up. A lot of thoughts exploded in his head. Unanswered questions, as well as, naughty ideas. What did he mean by it? Todd couldn’t care. Neil quickly pushed his plump lips onto Todd’s. It felt truly… magical. Neil kissed the same as he looked: polite, warm, caring. It was more than Todd had ever imagined, and yes, he did imagine it a lot. This experience… couldn’t be described, even by poetry. 

The script was soon forgotten in the kiss’ sike. It was worth it. 

They spent this night talking about their feelings in soft voices and stealing kisses. The latter days looked alike. It was the best period of their lives. Todd couldn’t believe it, but his boyfriend had been feeling similar the whole time. Neil loved him, truly.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you like it!! ive recently fallen in love with magical realism and i honestly thought i wouldnt be able to write such. but here we are.. !! 
> 
> my twt @ RLUP1N (: !


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